WASHINGTON - May 19 - The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Wednesday called on key state legislators in Texas to convene state legislative hearings to examine whether and why the state of Texas is executing people who are so mentally impaired they have no understanding of their impending execution.

In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Ford v. Wainwright, ruled that in order to be competent for execution, a person must understand that he is being executed and why. On Tuesday, for at least the second time since 2002, the state of Texas executed a man who demonstrably fell short of this standard. Even prison officials acknowledged that Kelsey Patterson firmly believed he had received "amnesty" from execution and mental health officials said Patterson experienced hallucinations, delusions and paranoid schizophrenia.

NCADP Wednesday sent a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Committees on Criminal Jurisprudence, the chairman of the House Committee on Human Services and the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, asking that interim legislative committees study why Texas is executing people in violation of Ford v. Wainwright. NCADP asked the legislators to prepare legislative reforms for consideration by the next regular session of the Texas Legislature, which is scheduled to convene in January.

"At a time when the United States has faced increase scrutiny because of reported abuses of Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, it is incumbent upon the U.S. and Texas to demonstrate, through word and deed, that human rights matter," the letter states. "At a minimum, we can agree that executing individuals in violation of Supreme Court precedent violates this standard."

David Elliot, NCADP communications director, noted that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had voted 5-1 to recommend that Patterson's death sentence be commuted or at least delayed. "Governor Rick Perry's decision to ignore this recommendation is a profile in cowardice," Elliot said. "He could have used this opportunity to educate the public about the issue of mental illness. Instead he succumbed to the culture of fear and benign indifference. His actions in allowing the execution to proceed represented the very opposite of strong and principled leadership."

NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS: The text of the letter is below.

May 19, 2004

Dear Reps. Keel and Uresti and Sens. Nelson and Whitmire:

In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Ford v. Wainwright that in order to be competent for execution, a person must be aware that in fact he is being executed and why.

On May 18, 2004 the State of Texas carried out the execution of Kelsey Patterson despite the demonstrable fact that Patterson had no idea of his impending fate. Court officers, prison employees and mental health experts all gave witness to Patterson's profound mental illness; even the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 5-1 to recommend a reprieve or a delay.

This is not the first time Texas has executed an individual with severe mental illness. In 2002, Texas executed Monte Allen Delk, who alternately thought he was the president of Kenya, a prison warden and, improbably, the captain of a nuclear-powered submarine during the Civil War era. And death row inmate Scott Panetti, who has been diagnosed with severe schizophrenia by over a dozen psychiatric hospitals may soon receive a new execution date.

Today I am writing to urge you to convene interim legislative hearings to determine whether and why Texas is executing inmates in violation of Ford v. Wainwright.

At a time when the United States has faced increase scrutiny because of reported abuses of Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, it is incumbent upon the U.S. and Texas to demonstrate, through word and deed, that human rights matter. At a minimum, we can agree that executing individuals in violation of Supreme Court precedent violates this standard.

The Texas Legislature next convenes in regular session in January 2005. As legislative leaders in charge of key committees, I urge you to engage in serious and comprehensive fact-finding - fact-finding that hopefully leads to legislative reforms in 2005.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty opposes capital punishment in all circumstances. Until abolition occurs, however, at the very least we believe that the execution of people with severe and profound mental illness violates the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. We further believe that such executions violate societal norms - in Texas as well as nationally and internationally.

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

Jason Zanon, Executive Director

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

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